Newcomer of the Week: Lean Lui

Looking at Lean Lui's photographs feels like being suspended in an in-between state, where one is neither fully awake nor sound asleep. Hazy colors and blurry lines set up her dreamlike sequences, where her muses freely dances, partially undressed yet still completely hidden. Get to know our featured community newcomer from Hong Kong in this short interview.

I am Lean Lui from Hong Kong, 19 years old, a year-2 university student and a self-taught photographer. I started with writing and photography being my mediums of expression. At a certain level, I found that they are rather similar, both revealing the person behind the opus.

I guess I’m influenced by the Chinese style of drawing where the most important thing was to leave blank spaces on the canvas. So, through photography, I can express my perception of things via a ‘non-existing existence’ way. Or, it can be read as a protection for my insecurities.

How did you find the Community and who/what convinced you to join?

I was surfing through the internet when I found the Community. I want a platform to share my work and also learn from others so I joined.

As you have read the 10 Golden Rules of Lomography, what rule do you apply in your everyday life?

My favorite rule is “Don’t worry about any rules”. As mentioned above, I am a self-taught photographer, I don’t know much about camera and photography when I started taking photos. I just took photos of what I want and what I feel, but I think the result is quite good. Sometime my friend who have taken professional photography classes said that they used to be trapped by those “rules”.

In this digital age, why still film?

Film is very special, you won’t know how’s your work until the last moment. Different from using a digital camera where you can’t check your work right after you have taken it. If you don’t like it, you can delete it can take it again. But with film, you can’t do the same.

There’s too much uncertainty with film. Sometimes you’d forget to check if it has expired or you won’t know if the film has snapped. When you play with light leaks, there is no way of knowing where would the light go. When you do the three fingers method, you won’t know if the pictures are aligned perfectly or what chemistry the overlapped pictures will create. When you develop the photos, you don’t know how skilled the person is, if there’s anything wrong with the chemicals... And all of these are linked, which really gives you the feeling of making one wrong move and you’d lose everything. (The original sentence from an ancient Chinese saying:「一子錯，滿盤皆落索。」) And because of that, I cherish each and every frame of the films. I think I consider it as a documentary of ‘fate’ too.

All of them are things I really enjoy, so it’s really challenging for me to choose. But among the three, I interact with books the most. I read them everyday, to the point where I’d feel anxious if I don’t read. My favorite book is The Book of Dao. The wisdom of ancient people inspires me a lot, so when I face some hardship, I would open the book and look for answers. They are usually solved. That’s why I would always be amazed by the erudition of Lao Zi.

Share your current favorite Lomograph, could be yours or a friend’s. Why?

This is the photo I took using multi exposure, and it look like and oil painting.

Tatsuo Takei's been making waves as he shoots the longboarding tradition in the Golden State with photography and film. Following a routine of surfing and shooting in film, we get to know more about Tatsuo's life and work in this interview.

In this second installment of our special two-part feature on cinematic photographers, we take a look back to more photographers who have mastered the dreamy, often surreal aesthetic of cinematic photography.

Nick Collingwood is an avid film photographer and active Lomography community member in New York City. He loves experimenting, which is why the LomoChrome Purple was his choice of film for his travels to Joshua Tree National Park and Portugal.

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